


Balls and Balloons

by Mavynn



Series: World of Harry Potter Shorts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 21:17:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20123992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mavynn/pseuds/Mavynn
Summary: When Ron insults Hermione at the Yule Ball she finds a very unlikely sympathetic ear. One-shot





	Balls and Balloons

**This is a one-shot that I created for a challenge that never completed. I do not intend to continue it in any way. I wanted to challenge myself to use a character I had never used before.**

Hermione had noticed Viktor watching her closely in the library for a few days. She was quite certain she knew what this was about.

  
At some point Viktor would get up the nerve to ask her questions about Harry. Not that she had not grown used to this. For some she was only useful as the friend to Harry Potter. The Chosen one. The one who he shared all of his secrets with.

  
The one someone could go to if they wanted to say… know Harry’s favorite sweet to slip him a love potion like that ridiculous Romilda Vane. Why the daft girl thought Hermione would help her with the magical version of slipping someone a mickey to her best friend was beyond Hermione’s ability to grasp. She would have to remember to mention it to him next she thought about it.

  
After a few days, when Hermione was deep in a book about past Tri-Wizard tournaments to see if there was anything in it that might help at all with Harry’s egg, A shadow fell over her and looking up she saw Viktor looking down at her.

  
“May I ‘ave a word?” he looked so nervous it was almost sweet.

  
Hermione, for all of her brilliance could not imagine that the very popular Quidditch star would be interested in her, and was surprised to hear herself agreeing when he asked her to the Yule Ball.

  
She decided to withhold this news from her two best friends. She knew they would take the absolute piss out of her if she told them she was going with Viktor.  
She spent the next week trying to find the perfect gown finally deciding on a lovely periwinkle blue dress robe that would go well with her complexion.

  
Ron tossed out an outrageously bad and insulting invitation to the Ball at her, which she cheerfully declined. From the moment she did so he became an annoying prat, demanding that she tell him who she was going with. It was incredibly satisfying to refuse to tell him. At first she just did not want to be teased about it. After awhile it became more about irritating Ron.

  
Ginny Weasley helped her to find the perfect cosmetic spells to make her hair sleek and shiny. She added just a touch of makeup. Had anyone asked if she would be the sort of girl to fuss and primp for a date she would have scoffed at them. But then, as this was her first date she really had no idea how she would “normally” act as this was completely out character for what her normal life was.

  
Neville Longbottom had asked Ginny to the dance, which was perfect since only Ginny knew the spells to help her if the up do they had finally managed started to slip.

  
The look on Ron’s face when he saw her enter the Ball was priceless. After one astonished look he had refused to look her way again.  
Not that she minded. She was surprised to find herself enjoying Viktor’s company. When he wasn’t shy and nervous he was quite engaging. And surprisingly intelligent.

  
She was fascinated by his stories of Durmstrang.

  
“Is there a History of Durmstrang book?” She had asked, making him laugh in his deep baritone timber.

  
“Indeed, and I shall be very ‘appy to send it to you Hermy-own.” His mispronunciation of her name was another endearing quality she fancied about him. This led to a teasing conversation over how to properly pronounce it.

  
The twinkle in his eyes told Hermione that he very well knew what he was doing and was teasing her. She had never had a boy tease her in a flirty sort of way before. It was lovely.

  
Until Ron ruined it by accusing her of fraternizing with the enemy and all sorts of foolishness.

  
“Viktor is using you, Hermione, that is all. I am surprised you would fall for something so stupid.” Ron glared her.

  
“How exactly is it you think Viktor is using me, Ronald?” Hermione was furious, how dare Ron accuse her of being stupid?!

  
“Obvious, isn’t it? He’s Karkaroff ’s student, isn’t he? He knows who you hang around with. . . . He’s just trying to get closer to Harry... get inside information on him... or get near enough to jinx him...” Ron glared at her

  
Hermione was so angry her voice cracked. How DARE Ron accuse her of giving away secrets? “For your information, he hasn’t asked me one single thing about Harry, not one!”

  
Ron, seeing his first tactic failed tried again “Then he’s hoping you’ll help him find out what his egg means! I suppose you’ve been putting your heads together during those cozy little library sessions!”

  
“I’d never help him work out that egg!” said Hermione, outraged. “Never. How could you say something like that?! I want Harry to win the tournament, Harry knows that, don’t you, Harry?”

  
Harry found an incredibly fascinating speck of dirt on the bench he was sitting at that required his entire attention and focus.

  
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.” sneered Ron.

  
It got truly ugly from there, with Hermione finally shouting at Ron that the next time he needed to pluck up the courage and ask her first and not as a last resort.  
With that she had run from the hall, completely forgetting she had a date.

  
Turning angrily down corridor after corridor she finally found one that was completely unused. That really should have been her first hint that it was not the sort of place one normally went. In every other nook and cranny students had paired off for a bit of snogging.

  
Sitting down and pulling off her shoes she settled in for a good cry.

  
Something told her that things were wrong. A sixth sense that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. When she pulled her hands away from her face she let out a loud squeal and almost fell over.

  
Peeves the Poltergeist was so close his nose was almost touching hers. He stuck both fingers in his ears and blew a raspberry at her.

  
“Ahhh…. The weee Hermo-ninny.” Peeves chuckled. “Down here in my corridor. Are you lost wee Ninny?”

  
“I am not lost.” Hermione dashed away a few stray tears.

  
She was surprised to see Peeves looking speculatively at her. “Wereyou kicked out of the feast as well?” He asked spinning upside down.

“No. I left on my own.” Hermione had no idea why she was having this conversation with the cantankerous poltergeist. Soon he would grab at her face shouting “Got yer conk!” and if she were lucky he would flee to someplace else cackling at her misfortune. But he was here, and she was here and so… well, at any rate he hadn’t done anything horrid… yet.

  
“You started giving the house elves clothes… why?” Was Peeves genuinely asking her a question? Was he even capable of that?

  
“Well... it is wrong, you know? They cook and clean and no one says thank you. It is slavery!” She could definitely be happy telling another person about S.P.E.W.

  
“Do I know it? Is it?” Peeves wasn’t being his usual... well, Peeves like self. It almost felt like a normal conversation.

  
Which was ridiculous.

Wasn’t it?

  
“Well… of course you must know.” It was obvious to Hermione “You are a person too.”

  
“I am a…” Peeves stopped and looked at her “Why is the wee Ninny in my corridor?”

  
And without really understanding why she did so, Hermione told Peeves about her evening. She finally had her face in her hands as she recalled the awful things Ron had accused her of.

  
When she looked up again, Peeves was gone. Had he even listened to her story at all? Why did she care? Except of course she may very well have spent the last several minutes telling a particularly disinterested stone column her woes.

  
Wiping her tears away, Hermione was surprised to find that she actually felt better and went off to find Viktor so she could explain her absence.

  
The next day, Peeves was back to his usual pranks of throwing water balloons at people. Hermione and Ron weren’t exactly speaking, but they weren’t being antagonistic towards one another either.

  
“Better watch it there Ron.” Harry looked over at his friend “Unless you want a repeat of the start of the year.”

  
Hermione smiled remembering how Peeves had pelted Ron with water balloons soaking him months earlier.

  
And sure enough, Peeves zeroed in on Ron.

  
“You had better not!” Ron took a swipe at the poltergeist who danced just out of his way.

  
With a practiced arm Peeves drew back and lobbed three balloons at Ron.

  
The first was some sort of sticky substance, if Hermione had to guess she would say it was honey.

  
The next two had some sort of brownish liquid in them.

  
No, not liquid, Hermione realized as the brown mass began to move and hundreds of tiny harmless spiders crawled all over Ron getting stuck in the honey.  
Ron started shrieking and batting at the spiders while other students laughed.

  
“Oh, good bit of luck there Weasley.” Hermione heard the sneering voice of Draco Malfoy. “Peeves has covered you with money spiders*. You can hope their luck rubs off on you and you can burn your mother’s old bathrobes and maybe not wear them to the next dance.”

  
Draco and his friends sauntered off laughing as Harry helped Ron clear away the sticky mess of spiders.

  
Hermione could almost swear she saw Peeves drop her a wink.  
  
  
_***These are an actual type of spider in the UK and if one crawls over you it is supposed to bring you money. I would rather be broke. **_


End file.
